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Beef Steak Stewed in Its Own Gravy

A stew of rump steak simmered in its own gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 4 ingredients
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Beef Steak Stewed in Its Own Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the steak

  1. Trim all the fat and skin from a rump steak of nearly an inch thick, and divide it once or twice.

  2. Dip the steak pieces into cold water, and let them drain for an instant.

  3. Sprinkle pepper on both sides of the steak pieces.

  4. Flour the steak pieces thickly.

Cook the stew

  1. Lay the steak pieces flat into a well-tinned iron saucepan or stewpan that has been rinsed with cold water, leaving three or four tablespoons of water in the pan.

  2. Place the pan over a very gentle fire.

  3. Keep the stew just simmering from an hour and a half to an hour and three quarters.

  4. Add salt when the stew first begins to boil.

  5. Turn the stew when it is rather more than half done.

  6. Optionally, add a couple of spoonfuls of gravy, half as much catsup, and a slight seasoning of spice to improve the dish.

By Eliza Acton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Rump steak (in the method)
Provides the meat that becomes tender during slow simmering.
Flour (in the method)
Coats the steak pieces, helping to thicken the cooking liquid and brown the surface.

The step that matters

Keep the stew just simmering. At a gentle simmer the connective tissue in the steak slowly softens while the meat stays tender. A hard boil toughens and dries the meat and can scorch the flour coating on the pan base.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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